Because I started reading The Norm just about the time that the lead character got married, I had forgotten that the strip used to be quite different. Not in tone, because the same genial, family-friendly style of Jantze's writing is to be found here as well as in the strips about his married life, and not really in subject matter, since it's still the story of semi-autobiographical character Norm and his trials and tribulations of life, but in terms of what that life meant. Whereas The Norm currently resembles something like Mad About You, originally it was more like Seinfeld meets Dilbert, and while I can certainly relate to married life these days, I find that Jantze's work was more consistently funny when he was writing about the single life.
There are, of course, some things that started out just the way they ended up in The Norm later on. "The Chromosome Planets" strips make their first appearance here, and they're pretty much like the modern ones, contrasting daily events from the male and female perspective. Like all gender-based comedy, it tends toward the overgeneralization, but more often than not, I found that Jantze had hit the nail on the head. And even when his generalizations weren't entirely true, they were usually pretty funny. I got a real kick out of the difference between how men and women handle break-ups, in particular.
Actually, marrying off Norm may have been a mistake, because there's a sort of bitter edge to Norm here that is lacking in the current days. And while being happy is good for us regular humans, it's death for comedy. Especially when Norm doesn't pull out the bad language, which means that his more cynical or bitter moments give him an edge that he needs to be really funny. The strips that focus on Norm's (seemingly well-earned) feelings about his ex-girlfriend were often really funny, and easy to relate to for anyone who's ever had a bad break-up (i.e. everyone on the planet.)
Which isn't to say that single guy or men vs. women humor is the only good thing to be found in The Norm Magazine, or even the best stuff. While Jantze's observations of corporate culture are sometimes on the obvious side, there are also some insightful and hilarious observations. I loved the idea of workplace yearbooks, just from a weird but kind of fun idea, and the notion of being the peacemaker between two co-workers who hate each other is something most can relate to as well. Also, though Norm's literal inner child doesn't show up in this issue, the more childish impulses do make their appearance, such as the funny observation that being in the "war of the sexes" should come with some kind of cool army type gear or his love of tech toys like his new PDA.
Probably my favorite aspect of The Norm Magazine is that Jantze runs his notes on each strip beneath the strip, in the margins. Sometimes, they don't really add anything, but for the most part, it's interesting to see where he was coming from, and in some cases, he adds another punchline onto a funny gag, such as his take on "haggling" in modern day society. All in all, the first issue of The Norm Magazine is a fun intro to the series, and an interesting look back for those of us who have been following the strips recently.
